Machines are known which are used for washing containers of liquids, such as but not only, bottles, feeding bottles, watering troughs or others, used for feeding animals, such as for example guinea pigs or laboratory rodents or others.
It is known that, before washing, the containers are closed by suitable lids, or capsules; the lids are shaped with a lip to allow the animal to consume the liquid contained in the container, and the containers must be provided at the end of washing closed and filled with new liquid.
It is known to provide machines for washing the containers, which are structured with a support frame provided with a base resting on the ground and with a plurality of operating stations disposed in line with respect to each other, including a loading station for the closed containers, a station for removing the capsules from the containers, or de-lidding station, a washing station, a filling station and one to re-close the containers which have been washed and filled, by means of said capsules.
In the known machines, except for the washing station, in which the containers are closed in a washing chamber and undergo predetermined automated washing and rinsing steps, the remaining stations need considerable manual interventions and attention from the operators, in particular for loading, for positioning the containers in the filling station and for re-closing with the lids the containers which have been washed and filled.
These manual operations entail an increase in the overall times of the whole process of washing and filling the containers, as well as the need to employ different operators for the same machine, with a consequent increase in management costs.
Furthermore, the manual intervention may not always be precise and repeatable and may entail the risk of accidents for the operators.
It is also known to dispose and group together a plurality of containers in suitable washing baskets, so as to hold the containers in a desired disposition during all the operating steps of the machine.
It is also known to provide that the baskets define a plurality of containing cells for the containers, conformed to prevent the accidental exit of the containers from the basket, so as to be able to provide the upending of the basket inside the washing chamber, for example to facilitate dripping after the washing and rinsing step.
One of the manual operations which most entails an increase in the times and management costs of known machines is the step where the baskets are positioned upstream of the filling station in order to predispose the containers in the suitable filling position.
Indeed, the baskets exit from the washing station upended by 180° with respect to the initial loading position, that is, with the containers having the relative apertures facing downward. Said upending is due to the need to allow and facilitate the dripping of the washing and rinsing liquids, also from inside the containers.
For this reason, the operator in charge of positioning the baskets upstream of the filling station must, of necessity, rotate each basket by 180°, so as to bring the containers with their aperture facing upward and to facilitate the filling thereof due to gravity.
Said upending must be carried out with precision, because the containers must be in positions corresponding to the relative filling nozzles of the filling station, so as to guarantee a correct and complete filling thereof.
Furthermore, between the washing station and the filling station continuity is provided between the belts which transfer the baskets through the different operating stations, because different operating speeds are provided between the different stations. This operative embodiment can also entail a difficult and imprecise positioning of the upended basket immediately upstream of the filling station.
A system for manipulating bottles to be washed and filled is disclosed by the document FR-A-1039114.
One purpose of the present invention is to produce a machine, and perfect a method, which allows to remove the lids or capsules, if they are provided, to wash, fill and possibly to re-close the containers in a simple, economic and efficient way, in a substantially automated manner and reducing to a minimum the manual interventions of the operators.
Another purpose of the present invention is to perfect a device which allows to optimize the positioning steps of the containers downstream of the washing station and upstream of the filling station, guaranteeing an accurate and correct positioning of the containers on each occasion.
The Applicant has devised, tested and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain these and other purposes and advantages.